Burch: Let's hire a fox to watch the hens

Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold’s next move, logically, would be to hire the KKK to teach his deputies how to deal with the “black problem.”

Arnold recently allowed the Strategic Engagement Group to provide “training” on “the dangers of Islam” for his employees and officers of the Murfreesboro, Smyrna and La Vergne police departments. SEG has been accused of “painting Muslims as violent believers” and greatly exaggerating the danger of “Shariah law” to Americans. The “training” seminars were unsurprisingly held at a church, the World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro. So much for separation of church and state.

WOC pastor Allen Jackson is a vocal opponent of Islam who was quoted by ABC News as saying, “We have a duty to investigate anyone under the banner of Islam.” That statement singles out millions of Americans for “special attention” and sounds suspiciously like what Hitler said about the Jews.

SEG vice president John Guandolo, who conducted the seminar, recently said of American mosques, “They do not have a First Amendment right to do anything.” So much for the Constitution, religious freedom and the right of American citizens to assemble peacefully.

It is disturbing and disheartening to think of Tennessee police officers going to a church to be indoctrinated into Islamophobia by evangelists of intolerance.

What does the SEG “teach”? One way to verify what such groups believe and teach is to visit their websites. Here’s what I found prominently displayed on SEG’s home page: “The Global Islamic Movement includes the fifty-seven member states of the Organisation (sic) of the Islamic Cooperation ... Islamic Jihadi organizations like al-Qaeda, and the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Whoever wrote the sentence above knows little about the world outside American borders, since the proper English spelling of “civilization” replaces the “z” with an “s.” Hence, there should be a “sic” after “sic” (and perhaps a “sick” also).

The statement is false, as the “member states” oppose rather than agree with al-Qaeda, an organization they see as a threat to their own sovereignty and stability. If they agreed with al-Qaeda they would obviously be waging all-out war on Israel and the U.S.

The website goes on to describe the “unified” threat presented by a “global” Islamic movement that doesn’t really exist. Islamic extremists are relatively few in number and only loosely organized. And there is no evidence that Muslim countries like Morocco are actively trying to “take over the world” or force Americans to submit to Shariah law. Even if they were, they lack the air forces, navies and amphibious landing vehicles necessary to conquer Cuba, much less the United States. Nor is there any danger of Shariah becoming the law of our land, because of a little thing called “democracy.”

And of course it is patently unfair to paint more than a billion people with an absurdly broad brush, accusing them of being involved in some sort of cosmic plot. I know many Muslims personally who believe in compassion and good works, not armed jihad. Mohammed himself said that the most important jihad (“struggle”) is the one waged with oneself.

But how many Christians who damn Islam out of hand have ever taken a Koran in hand and studied its better teachings? Of course most ancient religious texts contain highly dubious ideas, including the Bible, which in a plethora of verses commands or condones racism, intolerance, slavery, sex slavery, infanticide, matricide, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

How would Christians feel, if they, their loved ones and their religion were judged by the worst Bible verses and the beliefs and actions of extremists like Hitler and Timothy McVeigh? Should Christians who continue to practice bigotry cast the first stone at another religion, before they attend to the gigantic beam of hypocrisy clouding their eyes and obscuring their vision?

If Christians want peace, they need to look squarely in the mirror, face reality, and realize that 9/11 was primarily the result of a half-century of terrible racial injustices inflicted on Palestinians and other Muslims by the governments of Israel, Great Britain and the United States. The way to achieve peace is to correct those injustices, not go on yet another religion-inspired witch hunt against the victims. If a Muslim here at home has committed a crime, by all means enforce the law of the land, but guilt by association and collective punishment are the methods of fascists, not the American Way.

Michael R. Burch is a Nashville-based editor and publisher of Holocaust poetry and other “things literary” at www.thehypertexts.com.

59 Comments on this post:

By:dargent7 on 2/17/12 at 5:39

I never bought into the concept 9/11 was conceived and initiated because of what Britain and the USA did or did not do to Palestinians.
I believe these jihadists, calling America the "Great Satan" was their duty to A'llah to kill us all. Then, as a reward, they get 78 or 108, or whatever amount of virgins in "heaven".
I cannot think of a more violent way to go than to fly a 747 into a office building.
Except, blowing one's self up with dynomite strapped to my jockey shorts, testicles, head scarf.
These Muslims, all of them are Muslim, all read the Qu'uran, all believe in Mohammad, are beyond psychotic.
Every day you read about some "suicide bomber" in Baghdad, Afghanistan blowing himself up at a Police recruiting station, bazzar, school, mosque...nothing is off limits to these nuts. Kill women and children? A'llah is Great!"
And it has nothing to do with Palestine.

By:govskeptic on 2/17/12 at 7:14

In spite of all the negativity toward the Bible, one should at least point out it's
divided between the old and new testaments. The new, developed centuries
ago, excludes many of the ills you constantly point out. Nothing like that in
the "Holy Koran" as the President so eloquently pronounces!

Having purchased a copy of the Koran shortly after 9/11 and reading a great
deal of it, those passages "it's better passages" as you call them are not
high lighted in red or italics to distinguish them from many of the most
dangerous and disguising ones. I don't pretend to judge the newly elected
Sheriff over in Rutherford County's actions as a pretense to rant on about
Israel, the Palestinians, or the KKK, but would say caution should be the
word of the day throughout this country as it's beginning to be in other nation's
that are facing a billion believers of the dude who ascended on a horse with
a mighty young child as a bride! Just saying-------

By:Ummm... on 2/17/12 at 7:19

d7, the problem is that some nut jobs (like the Rutherford County Sheriff, apparently) think that all Muslims are jihadists. I remember way back in the sixties and early seventies, every guy with long hair was considered a subversive and probably a member of the SDS or the Weather Underground.

By:Captain Nemo on 2/17/12 at 7:31

Your post could be reverse saying that all American or like budlight, yogiman.

''Do you know, where does this phrase 'separation of church and state' come from? It was not in Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists. ... The exact phrase 'separation of Church and State' came out of Adolph Hitler's mouth, that's where it comes from. So the next time your liberal friends talk about the separation of Church and State, ask them why they're Nazis.''

—Glen Urquhart, the Tea Party-backed Republican nominee for the Delaware House seat held by Rep. Mike Castle, April 2010

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 7:57

This is an excellent article; thank you Mike Burch, for telling it like it is.

Mike wrote: "It is disturbing and disheartening to think of Tennessee police officers going to a church to be indoctrinated into Islamophobia by evangelists of intolerance."

I could not agree more with that statement.

Sounds like the pastor of the World Outreach Church is an an ambitious and enterprising bigot for Christ....apparently, Jesus, the Christ, hated the Arabs and Islam, though Mohammad had not been born yet....it's all in the prophecies...you gotta interpret the Scriptures, to make them fit your agenda....this WOC pastor is pretty good at twisting and perverting the message of Christ....maybe he's thinking of running for office?

By:dargent7 on 2/17/12 at 7:59

You guys see the ad on the left of the screen? "Arab Lounge"..."meet you Arab Princess"
I'm in, any one else...Loner?

By:dargent7 on 2/17/12 at 8:03

A greater percentage of these "suicide bombers" who blow themselves up are Muslim, like 100%. And they target and kill their own people, in their own country. Their own women and children.
It's got nothing to do with Israel or Palestine.

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 8:08

Darge, you know I love ya...but you have ingested Zionist propaganda. Bin Laden clearly stated the reasons for his 9-11 attack; the US-Israel "special relationship" was the primary motivation....why would he lie about it? The US media is Zionist-owned, therefore Bin Laden's motivations are not generally known here in the USA....re: the Helen Thomas effect.

The creation of the state of Israel, on May 15, 1948, is the datum point for the beginning of the new crusades - the Great Theocratic Wars of the 20th & 21st centuries.

The Great Crusades of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries were re-kindled when a Jewish theocracy was arrogantly inserted into the middle of Muslim country.

The Palestinians are analogous to our native people's; the Jewish colonists are analogous to the European invaders who invaded the land, slaughtered the natives and still occupy the new world.

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 8:12

I don't see the ad, Darge...I got ads for alcohol and drug awareness...these ads are being tailored to our individual needs, wants and tastes? Big Brother knows what we like and what we do not like? What we need and what we do not need?

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 8:17

Darge, the "Arab Princess", is probably an effeminate Metro cop posing as a female hooker...didn't you get the memo? The cops are looking for cross-dressers for sting duty.

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 8:32

Santorum's financial patron got himself into trouble on national TV:

On Thursday, Foster Friess, who's contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Super PAC that supports Santorum, ignited a firestorm of criticism when he attempted humor in calling for abstinence. "You know," he said on "Andrea Mitchell Reports" on MSNBC, "back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraception. The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn't that costly."

Wow! I haven't heard that line since the early 60's. Yeah, Santorum is a throwback...he's got loud-mouthed troglodytes bankrolling him.

I think that the voters will abstain from choosing Santorum...just put an aspirin between your legs and hobble up to the voting machine and pull the lever for "anybody but Santorum"....that will prevent fertilization of the GOP egg...that's no yolk.

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 8:43

Meanwhile, NJ Gov. Chris Christie, the chunky Christian choirboy, promises to veto the same-sex marriage bill...he's pandering to the Christian right, he's the alternative, if there is a brokered GOP convention, so he's burnishing his credentials with the bigots...staying in the news.

Ironically, Christie ordered the lowering of the flag to half-staff, to honor Whitney Houston, who many claim was a closeted lesbian....just sayin'.

Careful there Loner, I've noted a Bromance developing between you and
the author over the last few months. As to Andrea Mitchell having to catch
her breath, she has apparently never had to worry about birth control being
married to the former Federal Reserve Chairman who only gets his
jollies soaking in a tub!

By:dargent7 on 2/17/12 at 8:52

You said it. Allan Greenspan has to be tied for first place as the ugliest guy on the planet.
Mitch McConnell is the other one.

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 8:56

Are you jealous, Gov?

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 8:59

Greenspan has the green stuff, the universal deodorant and perfume...without that cash cologne, Greenspan and Rush Limbaugh would have to settle for sex w/o a partner....money is an aphrodisiac...'twas ever thus.

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 9:05

Mitch Mconnell looks like a genetic cross between a human and a turtle...I see him eating lettuce...s l o w l y ...munch....munch...munch....like my pet turtle used to do....I'll bet that McConnell's underside looks like a painted turtle's underside...maybe an image of that will show up on You-Tube.

By:yogiman on 2/17/12 at 9:07

In comparing the Muslim faith with the Christian faith as an "open market" in religions, there's one little point that's the most disturbing to me: The is several different beliefs in the Christian faith, but I know of only one in the Muslim faith and that is if your aren't a Muslim, you deserve death because of your refusal of that faith.

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 9:18

USURPER ALERT!!!

By:Moonglow1 on 2/17/12 at 9:28

Moonglow1: The KKK was born in Polaski, TN. The hatred of Islam reminds me of the KKK. No surprise that the sheriff promoted "training" for his deputies. Ignorant, back woods, propaganda induced trolls. As for "the church" you gotta be kidding. The feds should swoop down in expensive tax payer funded Blackhawk helicopters, handcuff em and let them rot in prison.

As for religion, I recommend viewing Ancient Aliens on the History Channel at 9 pm tonight (season premier). All this nonsense about Christianity, Islam, Jewish, etc. The people descending from the skies were misinterpreted by ancient civilizations as Gods when perhaps they came from other planets.

Actually, the Mormons and Scientologists believe someone from space gave them "the word. "

Maybe Romney would have space aliens "self deport. " And we have Gingrich granting amnesty for moon colonies.

This bunch is so crazy. Ancient Aliens sounds sane compared to these nuts.

By:dargent7 on 2/17/12 at 9:33

I assume ugly guys that get the girl (even though Andrea Mitchell is long in the tooth), either have major cash-ola or are hung like donkeys. Looking at Greenspan's mug, probably both.

By:dargent7 on 2/17/12 at 9:39

Loner & Co. I saw Santorum's PR guy say that on live tv. These guys are clinically INSANE. An asprin? That's not even funny. But, he's such a nuckel-head he probably thinks women get pregnant from toilet seats.
Santorum is on record stating he wants to ban all forms of contraception, Nationwide...
If any of these lilly white GOP freaks get the keys to the W.H. we're done. Put a fork in America. Bomb Iran, Syria, and deny women reproductive rights. All in the 1st 90 days.
Looking back whether Obama was a Muslim, Marxist, Communist would be a blessing.
Only an asteroid hitting Earth would save us.
Palin's on board for another run as VP...can you believe that shit? You simply cannot make it up.

By:Mike Burch on 2/17/12 at 9:48

Yogiman and govskeptic,

Christianity trumps most other religions by saying that anyone who isn't a Christian will be tortured in hell for all eternity. According to the book of Revelation, non-believers and probably Christians who didn't live up to the expectations of a fearsome God would be tortured with fire and brimstone "in the presence of the Lamb and Holy Angels." So it seems there will be a torture chamber in heaven, at the foot of the throne of God. The "saints" of Revelation cried out for blood and vengeance, rather than love, compassion and mercy.

So, for anyone who believes that some people get a free ticket to heaven, and are saved by grace, while other people will suffer for all eternity -- which is what most Christians seem to believe -- God is terribly unjust, and what they do to other people in this life matters little. This surely accounts for, or greatly contributes to, the many terrible things Christians have done to non-Christians in the past, and in the present.

Why do so many Christians blindly support Israel today? Obviously, fear is a huge factor. They have read Revelation and they don't want to be the targets of the insane God of Revelation and his legions of avenging angels. It is said that Jesus will murder the children of a mother because she had extramarital sex, which puts every Christian at risk who ever had extramarital sex, and their children. It is said that some Christians will be condemned for eating the wrong foods, such as foods offered to idols, even though the rest of the Bible says Christians can eat whatever they choose.

I understand the horror of believing the worst verses in the New Testament, because I suffered that agony as a child.

It is only true that the NT is better than the OT if Christians choose not to believe the worst verses in the NT. Otherwise, as bad as the OT is, the NT is worse. The OT never condemned anyone to suffering after death. Sheol was the grave, not hell. But a few verses here in the NT seem to describe a place of suffering after death. Those verses have been used to terrorize and brainwash children for nearly 2,000 years, and are a contributing factor in all sorts of horrors: the Crusades, the Inquisitions, the Trail of Tears, American slavery, and today the Nakba of the Palestinians.

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 9:56

Amen, brother Moonglow. The earth has one natural satellite, whose rotation is synchronous with its revolution around earth....this gives earthlings a disc-like image, if the moon rotated, so that we could see that the moon was spherical, not a disc, the ancients might have concluded that the earth too was a rotating sphere....not the face of a moon God or Goddess. We are all lunatics by nature...religion is a natural outgrowth of astronomical ignorance. The Muslims still use the moon in their logo...the Jews go for the stellar imagery....Christians like the crucifix for a logo...that's progress, I guess.

Amen, brother Dargent. Katholic Ken and Grizzly Barbie in 2012. The Altar Boy and the Bimbo. Their agenda: the 4-G's - Guns, God, Gays & Guvmint. More God and Guns...no Gays, less Guvmint....should sell well in the former confederacy, the Midwest and "out West" - except in CA....the "Left Coast".

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 10:06

Moonglow, upon re-reading my 8:56 post, my language was a bit clumsy, hope I made my point...early civilizations concluded that the moon's earth-facing surface was the face of a supernatural deity...if the moon's rotation rate was significantly faster, or slower than it is, the entire surface of the spherical satellite would have been observable to early humans and different conclusions may have been drawn by the ancients....our ancestors were obviously "spooked" by the moon.

With a username like "Moonglow"...I'm probably preaching to the choir on things lunar.

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 10:18

F-16 fighters intercept small plane to close into Obama's airspace

Two F-16 fighter jets made contact with the pilot of the Cessna 182, a single-engine plane, that strayed into restricted airspace around President Obama's helicopter on Thursday in Los Angeles. More than 20 pounds of marijuana was later found aboard the intruding aircraft, officials said.

The guy should have thrown the herb out the window, while aloft...letting the medicine rain down on the people...the evidence would have been quickly scarfed up.

There's a new ad on the left, "Muslima.com". Muslim woman want to date.
Great. Her father will hunt us both down and shoot us as an honor killing.
Loner, maybe they're onto you and just filter the tractor pulls, penis extension, gay marriage, and nudist colony stuff to you?

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 10:27

Imagine the scene:

A homeless guy is begging passers by for coffee money...when out of the blue, a well-wrapped pound of top-quality Marijuana lands on the sidewalk, right in front of him...he grabs the herb, looks skyward and says, "Thank you, Jesus!"

It would make a great scene in a Cheech & Chong movie, no?

By:Mike Burch on 2/17/12 at 10:28

Everyone,

Of course anyone can believe anything they prefer. But I think the idea that 9-11 was an act of spite inspired by religion is beyond silly. The FBI interrogated the men the U.S. was able to apprehend, and an FBI special agent testified under oath before the 9-11 commission about the motives of those men. The agent's testimony was stricken from the published record because the enormously powerful pro-Israel lobby will not allow American politicians to speak the truth about such things publicly. But two of the joint chairs of the commission wrote a book about the 9-11 commission, and the agent's testimony can be found online. I believe there are YouTube videos of that testimony., since people were filming the proceedings.

The FBI special agent confirmed what Osama bin Laden said a number of times in public statements. The 9-11 attackers had two clear motives, neither of which was religious in origin:

(1) They identify with the Palestinian people (as virtually all Arabs do), and abhor what Israel and the U.S. have done to them, as should any person with a compassionate heart and a sense of justice.

(2) They want the U.S. to remove its troops from the Middle East because they know what the U.S. has done in the region, and they doubt our government's intentions. They have perfectly rational reasons for feeling this way, considering the CIA-led coup of the democratically-elected government of Iran in 1951, and other similar horrors.

Anyone who has studied what our government has done in the region since the end of World War II can easily understand why the 9-11 attackers were angry enough to kill other people and die themselves. If American women and children had been denied freedom and caused to suffer and die in large numbers by some outside agency, American men would attack that agency. But the people we call "terrorists" while ignoring our own government's far larger acts of terrorism don't have armies, navies and air forces. So they resort to gorilla methods.

Of course I do not "support" their methods. But I do understand why they flew planes into American buildings. They were fighting fire with fire. Their women and children are suffering and dying unjustly, and they hoped that by feeling the same sort of pain, the American public would finally come to its senses.

But the 9-11 commission chose support for Israel over the hard truth. American politicians refuse to even discuss the obvious facts. The result has been the insane belief that we were attacked out of spite, by people who "hate" our "values."

The real reasons for the 9-11 attacks are simple enough to understand, if one is able to invest a few minutes studying the history of the Middle East, especially what the governments of Israel, Great Britain and the U.S. have done by constantly favoring Jews over everyone else in the region. Israel has used that favoritism to create a new Holocaust, and because the U.S. funds and supports that Holocaust, some Arabs have become resistance fighters, just as some Jews became resistance fighters during the Holocaust.

Only wild hypocrisy can suggest that Americans and Jews can defend their loved ones, but that Arabs and other Muslims are wrong to defend their loved ones. The only non-violent solution is justice, but Israeli and American politicians lack the spines to stand up to Israel, and the American public lacks the wisdom to force them to grow spines.

I have studied these matters in great depth, but in only took me five minutes of study to realize that what I have been brainwashed to believe about Israel was a lie. Just study the Jim Crow laws and kangaroo courts of Israel. Those laws and courts are like the "laws" and "courts" of the Confederacy, Nazi Germany and apartheidist South Africa. Then think what life would be like for your loved ones, living under the thumb of people who fervently hated and despised them, once they weren't protected by fair laws and courts. They would be denied jobs, or made to work like serfs. Their land and homes could be stolen, leaving them homeless and destitute. They would be walled into giant slums so that the "superior" people didn't have to see their misery and despair.

This is what happened to the Palestinians. Such suffering will always cause some men to go on the warpath, even a man of peace like Sitting Bull. We may not approve of their methods, but what would American men do in the same circumstances, if they didn't have a powerful military and every advantage? Many of them would undoubtedly do similar things. When white Americans were fighting Native Americans, men like Custer raided villages, killed women and children, and sometimes took scalps themselves.

So I don't believe the myth that Muslim extremists are evil or deluded, and that Christians are somehow better. As the old saw goes, "The proof is in the pudding." If we taste the pudding of Christian intervention in the Middle East, it is rancid. If we want peace, we have to face the bitter truth and do what we can to make our government and politicians listen to reason, before it's too late.

Every government that acts unjustly demonizes its victims. The U.S. has done this more than once, in the past. The combination of injustice and demonization of its victims led to massacre after massacre in the Indian Wars, and to the Civil War, still the bloodiest war in American history. Now it is leading us toward World War III, needlessly.

People with functional eyes, hearts and brains should try to step into the shoes of people who live in the Middle East, and try to understand why they are so angry. Americans who profess to be Christians should ask themselves what Jesus would do. Would he shut his eyes to the truth, side with the rich, powerful hypocrites, and let innocents suffer and die ... or would he act with love, compassion and wisdom?

Unfortunately, the majority of American Christians seem to believe that Jesus is a bigot who favors white hypocrites over poor people with darker skin. That has been a common theme throughout American history.

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 10:29

Darge, I got an ad left margin for discount phone rates for calls to Nigeria...maybe the trolls rantings about Obama's African roots triggered the automated ad-generator?

By:Mike Burch on 2/17/12 at 10:36

Yogi, you said ...

In comparing the Muslim faith with the Christian faith as an "open market" in religions, there's one little point that's the most disturbing to me: The is several different beliefs in the Christian faith, but I know of only one in the Muslim faith and that is if your aren't a Muslim, you deserve death because of your refusal of that faith.

This is false, as many Muslim nations in the past and today are tolerant of other religions. There are still Jewish synagogues in Muslim nations around the world, including Iran. As Albert Einstein, the great Jewish scientist and humanitarian, pointed out, Jews had historically been treated with much more tolerance throughout the Muslim world than by European and Russian Christians.

Of course when Jews decided to seize Palestine by force and subjugate Muslims, a good deal of that harmony disappeared. But what would Americans do, if people from other countries showed up with guns and bombs, planning to take over and turn our children into serfs?

Ironically, the actions of Israel, Great Britain and the U.S. have greatly contributed to the intolerance we now complain about. It's hard to be tolerant for people who have stripped your children of freedom and any possibility of pursuing happiness. I doubt that we would be tolerant of Martians if they showed up and tried to turn out children into serfs.

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 10:45

Wow. You put it all out there, Mike. Bravo.

Christians should ask themselves, "Was Jesus a Zionist?" Or did he actually claim that his kingdom is "not of this earth". You can't have it both ways..was Christ a Jewish nationalist, or was he the savior of all men everywhere?

Christ predicted the destruction of the Jewish temple in J'lem...he never promised that it would ever be rebuilt; Jesus never claimed that its rebuilding is a prerequisite for his return to earth. Those ideas are heretical, in my view.

US Christians are useful idiots for apartheid Zionism.

This is a good page to bookmark; it details who got what from the pro-Israel lobby in just this past election cycle:

http://maplight.org/us-congress/interest/J5100/view/all

Bear in mind, Super-PACs supporting the Jewish State are already out there...it's out of control, folks....The Israeli PM is now our de facto US Commander-In-Chief?

Anyone who complains is an "anti-Semite"? This is mass hysteria....Uncle Sam has gone gaga for Israel....loving eyes can never see.

Thank you, Brrrrk, for the link...I read the story and watched the video..what a hypocrite this Michael Berry guy is.

The Texas "Christians" will quickly forgive him, I'm sure; if he were a Democrat, they'd call for a tar & feathering. But this guy is a "homo", so their forgiveness may be slower than normal.

OK...here we go..."An ex-councilman and right-wing radio talk show host, wearing a "beard", walks into a gay piano bar, on drag queen night......"

Looks like Houston is worse than Jock City for corruption.

By:Mike Burch on 2/17/12 at 11:22

Loner,

I don't think Israel is running the U.S., but Israel has way too much influence on our foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, and keeps pushing us toward World War III.

I don't pretend to speak for Jesus Christ, but I have a hard time imagining him joining the robber barons who are stealing land and homes from Palestinian farm families, leaving the farmers and their children homeless and destitute.

I think some Christians are opening their eyes and hearts to the plight of the Palestinians, but many of them fail to see how their own children's futures are linked to what happens to other people's children.

If Christians refuse to act out of compassion, still they should act if only for self-preservation. Do we want our children and grandchildren fighting World War III for no better reason than a few Jewish robber barons being able to steal land from Palestinian farm families? In what way do Americans benefit from ethnic cleansing and slow genocide?

It really is madness for Americans to establish racial justice here at home, then risk losing everything because our government aids and abets racial injustices abroad. At least the robber barons get something in return: personal financial gain. But our national stupidity is truly amazing, because we get nothing in return but terrorism, war and the threat of national bankruptcy.

I have nothing against Jews or Israel. But I don''t want my money and the lives of my children and grandchildren to be wasted for what I consider to be evil insanity. Palestinians are human beings. They are fathers, mothers and children. They should have the same rights as everyone else. When our government funds and supports apartheid, ethnic cleansing and slow genocide, we have to expect the victims to resist.

The great hypocrisy I see is that Jews and Americans claim every right to defend their loved ones, but demonize Muslims for defending theirs. The men who want to defend Palestinian women and children from terrible suffering and possible extinction don't have the ability to fight Israel and the U.S. in a traditional war, so they have limited choices. As Nelson Mandela pointed out at his trial for sabotage (which he admitted), when the people in power rig the laws and courts, nonviolent resistance does not work. He and the African National Congress used nonviolent tactics without success for around half a century.

So unless the U.S. requires Israel to either grant the Palestinians independence or the protections of fair laws and courts, the Palestinians have two terrible options: resist using force, or submit, suffer and die.

If our loved ones stood in their shoes, how would we feel, and what would we do?

By:brrrrk on 2/17/12 at 11:23

Thanks Loner.... I does whats I can. :-)

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 11:37

Brrrrk, maybe Mike was working his weenie when he side-swiped the parked SUV?

I suspect that he will claim that he was working undercover...to get a first hand look at the depravity....so that he could expose it as the sin it is...a dirty job...but somebody has to do it...now poor Mike, the valiant anti-gay crusader is being punished for "Just doing his job"....Mike's the victim...not a hypocrite...the leftist media has it all wrong.

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 11:50

Mike Burch, thanks for the personal reply. We agree on the fundamentals.

I see US policy formation for the ME as a processed product manufactured by the War Super-lobby. That 3-part force is composed of the Defense, Israel & Energy lobbies (acronym: DIE).

All three of these lobbies are powerful in their own right, but their selfish interests overlap and complement each other in the Middle East. The War Super-lobby is a loose consortium of special interests....officially, the "War Super-lobby" does not exist...the players do not consider themselves members of such a "Super-lobby"....they would label my analysis as "tin foil hat" stuff, or worse.

Peace activists routinely target the Defense and Energy lobbies, but they are loathe to attack the Israel lobby....therein lies the rub...Israel is the "brains" of the War Super-lobby.

By:Mike Burch on 2/17/12 at 11:55

d7 and Ummm,

I agree with Ummm that stereotyping Muslims is wrong. It is also dangerous. Americans who have studied history should understand the simple process that has been used by fascists throughout history:

(1) First, claim that the people you intend to rob and kill are "all the same."
(2) Next, claim that their differences are "dangerous" to the "good guys."
(3) Then strip them of human rights and the protections of fair laws and courts.
(4) Now the "good guys" have all the pieces in place to rob and kill, in order to satisfy their lust for money, land and/or domination.

This is what white American fascists like Andrew Jackson did to Native Americans.
This is what the Confederacy did to African Americans.
This is what Nazi Germany did to Jews, Gypsies, Slavs and Russians.
This is what Israel is doing to Palestinians.
This is what the U.S. is doing in the Middle East, because our politicians lust after oil and domination of the other people they want to force to be more like the :"good guys."

It's a stupid, sick, evil enterprise. But never underestimate what alpha males are capable of, and willing to do. I'm not sure if GWB fits the bill. He seems more like a compassionate moron who was in way over his head, and easily manipulated by real fascists like Cheney and Rumsfeld. But what if someone like Santorum or Gingrich gets elected president? Their grandiose dreams will lead them to believe that if they can only win the next battle, take the next hill, etc., U.S. military power will finally win the day and everyone in the Middle East will bow down to their supremacy. That's what Hitler believed, but it's a big world and no single nation has the money and power to force billions of other people to submit.

If we understand why 9-11 happened, and why both wars were both unnecessary and unwinnable, we can begin to see the path to peace. Ironically, the path to peace is to listen to what the 9-11 attackers said. We need to persuade Israel to either free the Palestinians or treat them like human beings with equal rights, and we need to stop using our military to force other nations to conform to our image.

Hitler said, "Either be like us, or we'll enslave or kill you." But "be like us" opens up a can of worms, because pretty soon nearly everyone becomes suspect. Businesses export things they are good at making. But seeing the results of American-style democracy, should we be trying to export it? Should we force people to buy a questionable product with guns, bombs and robotic drones?

By:Loner on 2/17/12 at 12:10

The 3 "D"'s: Dehumanize. Demonize. Destroy.

It's an ancient trinity of tactics...been used for countless millennia. It's an old trick, but it still works.

By:dargent7 on 2/17/12 at 12:53

Now Paul McCartney is "giving up marijuana". What's this country coming to?

By:dargent7 on 2/17/12 at 1:00

Burch, Loner & Co.:
What I don't understand is how you guys say a Muslim born Iraqi, Iranian, Saudi who blows himself up, is making a statement and response to the Jewish state of Israel and the Palestinian conflict is beyond me.
What's the connection?
These suicide bombers blow themselves up near US Embassy's, installations, recruiting stations. In retaliation of American presence. I get that. Nothing to do with Palestine.
But these same psycho's blow themselves up in a neighborhood school, bazzar, market, where there are ONLY other Muslims and Arabs. Where's this "Palestinian backlash" and connection?

By:brrrrk on 2/17/12 at 1:00

dargent7 said

"Now Paul McCartney is "giving up marijuana". What's this country coming to?"

In his third year in office Hitler said, "It is so easy to govern when the people are so
ignorant." I am sure Obama and Michelle also feel that way, in their third year in
office. America needs to wake up. We are at war with Muslims (for 33 years, starting with the Tehran hostage situation.) Informed people know that. DISHONEST (but informed) people also know that but use the issue for their
political gain as they rule over the ignorant (i.e. un-informed).

By:govskeptic on 2/17/12 at 2:51

Mike: As to your statement on Muslim countries living peacefully side by side with
other religions, there are hundred if not thousands of instances to the contrary.
In spite of the American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan they have burned Churches
and run what few Christians were left out of the country. As they have and are
doing all over the middle east. Even in Turkey where the government has tried
to force a neutrality there are instances every week of this purging! The problem
grows within the schools all over the world with the Muslim Clerics teaching
many hrs of hate and distorted history and very little math or other enduring life courses! This behavior is substantiated by sources in many countries.

By:brrrrk on 2/17/12 at 3:09

govskeptic said

"Mike: As to your statement on Muslim countries living peacefully side by side with
other religions, there are hundred if not thousands of instances to the contrary.
In spite of the American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan they have burned Churches
and run what few Christians were left out of the country. As they have and are
doing all over the middle east. Even in Turkey where the government has tried
to force a neutrality there are instances every week of this purging! The problem
grows within the schools all over the world with the Muslim Clerics teaching
many hrs of hate and distorted history and very little math or other enduring life courses! This behavior is substantiated by sources in many countries."

While it is true that there are great conflicts in many Muslim majority countries, I think it's unfair and disingenuous at best to blame all the problems on their faith. Most of those countries have issues that allow for religious fanaticism to flourish; issues like extreme poverty, little to no education, dictatorial governments, and misogynistic societal structures. All of these conditions allow groups like the Taliban to gain a foothold. Consider the historical actions of the Christian faith under those very conditions.... I would argue that it fared no better.

By:Captain Nemo on 2/17/12 at 4:01

@ Loyal Rebel

George W. Bush quotes.

"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating." --as quoted by the New York Daily News, April 23, 2002

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." --on "Good Morning America," Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina

Moonglow1: The drug companies push prescription drugs. Instead society could benefit from marijuana. Legalization would lower profits for these companies. Legal drugs is a huge business. Remember when the FDA was arresting seniors who went to Canada by the bus load so that they could purchase medications at a less expensive rate than purchasing them in the USA.

Loner-thanks for the link earlier about the plane full of pot.

By:Captain Nemo on 2/17/12 at 4:08

@ govskeptic

I recall Baptist preaching about the evils of Roman Catholics; the Church of Christ thinking that they are the only ones going to Heaven. The KKK doing God’s work, because God was helpless to stop the free slaves from bettering themselves.